That strikes me as a strange way of looking at it. Most math taught to people who aren't pure mathematicians is taught precisely because of application to concrete situations. We value pure math largely because of the potential for future concrete applications.
In case you aren't aware (and I wasn't until I trained to be a teacher, so this isn't meant to be condescending), there are alternative methods of teaching besides abstraction-first. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquiry-based_learning
I'm aware. Examples are given to demonstrate abstract concepts. However, that doesn't preclude you from needing to learn the abstract concepts eventually. Otherwise, you go back to knowing times tables for 2's and 3's, but not n's and m's.
In case you aren't aware (and I wasn't until I trained to be a teacher, so this isn't meant to be condescending), there are alternative methods of teaching besides abstraction-first. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquiry-based_learning